Turtles Arise!
by Shockeye7665
Summary: 2183, on the Citadel, an unlikely family resides within the sewers of Tayseri Ward. After Splinter allows the Turtles to go to the "surface", they soon find themselves in the midst of a vast plot involving the robotics company Stocktronics and the pro-human group known as Cerberus. Part of the Turtle Effect series. Rated M for violence and language.
1. Prologue Part 1

**Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mass Effect do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners, namely Viacom and Bioware.**

* * *

_Chiba Prefecture, Japan, Earth_.  
_May 2164_.

Within the late, night time hours of Earth, at a small Minka, sitting in a lotus flower position, meditating within a Washitsu, was a man with a face that both radiated gruffness and handsomeness. With long black hair, with a hint of greying in them, brown eyes, five o'clock shadow and cuts all over the cheek, nose and chin, sustained in sparring, he was quite the attraction to many of the women, but of course, nowadays, he somehow knew that they'll be disappointed, once they learned he was a married man.

And soon, he became aware that someone close to him was speaking.

"Yoshi? Yoshi"?

Opening his eyes, Hamato Yoshi drew his eyes onto the person speaking to him, his wife of 4 months, Tang Shen. Smiling at her, she smiled back, as Yoshi stood up and put his hands on her hips and drew her in closer for a kiss.  
And after drawing away to look at her beautiful face, Shen looked down towards her stomach.  
"Everything alright"?  
A worried look on her face appeared, and Shen replied, "Yes, Yoshi. It's just, that, I've been thinking, a lot lately, about our moving to New York..."  
"Tang Shen, we've been over this".  
Sighing, she continued "yes, I know that you want us to get away from Oroku Saki, and I know you're doing what you think is best, but is going to New York really the best idea for our child, Yoshi? Our child will not know or see our home country, it's culture and it's customs. Our child will be a stranger in a foreign land".  
Drawing her close to him, Hamato Yoshi also sighed and replied "I know. Those thoughts have been on my mind for quite some time. But Shen, I just want us to have the chance to spend the rest of our lives, to live in peace within New York, and that includes our child.  
I know, Japan may be our home country, but Oroku Saki will not give us the peace we deserve. His jealously knows no bounds and he refuses to recognize the love you have for me. And I want to get us away from him, before he manages to find out about us being married, or that we have a child on the way. I only dread of what he could do, if the situation comes to that.  
And don't worry, Shen, even if we move to New York, we will still be able to teach our child the customs and the culture of our homeland. But now isn't the time to think about these things, Tang Shen. We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it".  
"Maybe you are right, Yoshi".  
Kissing her on the head, and then crouching down, to kiss the area where their unborn child was growing, Tang Shen smiled at looking at the genuine love he had for her, and their unborn child. 

And then, squeaking came from the other occupant of the house, Yoshi and Shen's pet rat, whom he had given it the name of Splinter. Moving to go over to his dojo, he opened the fusuma, and after drawing eyes onto the cage that held Splinter, went over to open his cage, and once doing so, held out his arm, as so to invite Splinter to climb onto him, which he did so. 

For a few moments, Hamato Yoshi enjoyed the feeling of his pet rat climbing up to his shoulder and sniffing, until he then gently took the rat into his hands, and put him back into his cage. Closing the door and locking it, the tranquil peace was then disturbed when knocking came from the genkan, one floor down, and Tang Shen was about to tend to it, but Yoshi turned to her and said "I'll get that, Tang Shen. You need to rest anyway".  
Even though an angry look was displayed on her face, Yoshi already was going down the stairs, and towards the genkan. 

Arriving at the big fusuma that stood between his home, and the outside world that was the land of his birth, Hamato Yoshi pulled the handle aside, and received the shock of his life, with ninja in black shinobi shōzoku, aiming hankyū bows with arrows right directly at him. Then, other ninja rushed in, pushing him right onto the floor. Struggling against them pinning him down, he then saw one particular ninja, who he presumed, was leading this invasion of his home, due to that all the other ninja were moving out of his way and differing to him. And Yoshi soon saw the small symbol on their right arms. 

A left human foot, all completely red. The symbol of the Foot Clan. 

Fear was rushing to him, and it showed on his now paling face, as the lead ninja raised a boot and slammed it right down on him. Hard.

* * *

**Well, here is the beginning of Turtles Arise! The first of the Turtle Effect series, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Mass Effect crossover series. It contains elements from all the TMNT franchise (Mirage comics, the movies, the 1987 cartoon, the 2003 cartoon, the current 2012 series and the video games), and if you're wondering if the Turtles' will join Shepard and his crew, well, you might be a bit disappointed. For the 2183 depicted, is set several months before Mass Effect 1. But don't worry. Future stories will provide opportunities for all sorts of Mass Effect characters to appear in, including Shepard and the crew of the Normandy.**

**So, anyway, don't forget to leave a review.**

**Edit (11/2/14): Put in a disclaimer.  
Edit (14/3/14): Fixed the page up a bit.**


	2. Prologue Part 2

**Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mass Effect do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners, namely Viacom and Bioware.**

* * *

_Chiba Prefecture, Japan, Earth_.  
_May 2164_.

Groggily, Hamato Yoshi was awakening and adrenaline filled him, as he soon was back into consciousness and even though seeing that the entire living room was full of Foot ninja, Yoshi tried to get himself onto his feet, but soon found himself restrained by two other Foot ninja, holding him down in a strong grip. But that didn't stop him from trying.

"Don't bother, Hamato. Even if you did get away, you wouldn't survive a horde of my best ninja".

A chill flowed through his body as he heard that voice, a voice that was familiar to him, the owner being the very reason they planned to move to New York.  
Moving his head, he soon saw Oroku Saki come into his view, dressed in a crimson red samurai suit of armor with a modified Kabuto with a mengu, that covered his face, accompanied by the same Foot ninja who had knocked him unconscious. Unlike the rest of the ninja, who wore black outfits, with hoods that had red bandanas and "bug eyes", which served as rebreathers, and had enhanced vision capabilities, like a zoom feature, thermal imaging, night vision and electromagnetic vision, the lead ninja did wear a black outfit, but wore also, a modified Kabuto with a mengu, showing nothing that could help identify him.

Standing at 6 foot 5 inches, and with a very bulky physique, Saki seemed to not fit the role of a ninja, the swift and silent assassins and spies, but whenever it came to direct combat, Saki's physique was his advantage, as he used brute force and full on strength in his attacks. But he was still capable of being stealthy, when the time came to it.

But Yoshi was contemplating a much harder revelation. That Foot ninja were behind the invasion of his home, the Foot! The very ninja clan he was a part of!

Seeing Oroku Saki, seemingly in charge of all the other Foot ninja, with the one accompanying him supposedly his number two, left him pondering for a bit, until the man in question shouted at him to regain his attention.  
Yoshi refocused his attention onto Saki, and then a thought came to him.

_Tang Shen_…_..._

"Where is Tang Shen, Oroku Saki! And why have you invaded my home"?  
"Silence, Yoshi! You will treat my brother with respect"!

Shocked, Yoshi drew his attention on the lead Foot ninja. Oroku Nagi, Oroku Saki's younger brother.  
The two were very close, but while Saki relied on his physique and brute strength, Nagi was more reliant on his agility and his impulsiveness, which usually had to be held in check by Saki. And what was more surprising, was that Nagi seemed to be a leading Foot ninja, whilst his impulsiveness was the one holding him back from rising further in the ranks.

Even though his face was covered by a Mengu, Yoshi was sure that Oroku Saki was grinning, as he turned to his brother, "calm yourself, Nagi. After all, he is worried about his, so-called beloved wife, was it, Hamato"?  
Paling, Hamato Yoshi was deep in shock, as he contemplated this revelation. The wedding between him and Shen was secret, how could he have known?  
Laughing, Oroku Saki drew his face closer to Yoshi, and took off his mengu, revealing his face, all full of sparring cuts and cold, emotionless eyes.

"Oh, don't be so shocked, Hamato. After all, I do have my sources within the Foot. They all told me about your secret union. After all, even a small wedding cannot be hidden so easily, despite what preparations you could do. As for Tang Shen, you shall see for yourself in a moment, for she's being held upstairs, but anyway, in regards as to why I have 'invaded' your home. I am here, because those same sources, told me that you made plans. Plans for you and Tang Shen to leave Japan and to move away to New York City, over in the United North American States.

Looking at Hamato's once again shocked face, Saki continued.

"And thus, did you think that I'd allow you to get away from me? No, no, I could not allow you or my beloved Tang Shen to leave, for I came here to claim what is truly mine".  
Anger swept all over Yoshi's face, at the delusion of Saki, thinking that Tang Shen was still his for the taking.  
"How many times do I have to say this? Tang Shen is not yours, she was and will never be yours! She made her decision a long time ago, and you must accept that if you truly love her"!  
Growling, Saki put a hand on the helt of his katana, that was currently sheathed, but then Nagi, surprisingly, put his hand on Saki's arm.  
"Don't, brother. He's just trying to plague you with his lies, trying to provoke you, brother. Don't fall for it".

A look of surprise was present on Saki's face, and Yoshi couldn't blame him, for some reason. Saki was usually the one who gave this sort of advice to Nagi, and not the other way around.  
Looking at his brother, Saki went "I'm surprised, Nagi. I'm usually the one who has to keep you in line. Perhaps my appointing you to my inner circle has matured you somewhat. Anyway, we need to get back to business, but we will talk about this later".

Turning back to Yoshi, as if the whole thing had never happened, Saki activated his omni tool, and said into it "Bring down Tang Shen to me". After the recipient on the other side of the call acknowledged, Yoshi could hear the footsteps, one floor above, a measure to help detect anyone intruding on his home, but of course, he did not count on a direct invasion.

Yoshi could hear two of Saki's Foot ninja bringing down Tang Shen the stairs, as she was struggling against their grips and protesting to let her go.

But all her protests stopped, once she laid eyes on Oroku Saki. With a shocked face, Shen angrily went "Why are you here, at our home, Saki? What is the reason for this insanity"?  
Laughing coldly, which chilled both Yoshi and Shen, Saki replied "it's quite surprising, that you would call this", making an effort to look around to indicate the house, "'our home', considering that you are with your supposed husband, eh, Tang Shen"?  
Her eyes widening, at that Saki knew about her marriage to Yoshi, Saki continued on, as he knelt down, looked at Shen and started to stroke her face with his right hand, making her and Yoshi uncomfortable at this gesture, "But, anyway, my love, I am here, to ensure that I take what is truly mine, for you to leave the vermin, Hamato Yoshi, and to be my wife".

Her face now with an angered and focused look, along with a glare that made Saki step back, she retaliated "Yoshi is not a vermin! He is my husband! The man I chose, to spend with me for the rest of my life, and he is the one who I truly love. How times do you have to be told that, Saki"?  
Saki clenched his fists, growling, "Tang Shen, I strongly urge you to reconsider your words".  
"They are not words, Saki! They are the truth! Yoshi is ten times the man you are! And anyway, your jealously, your hatred and your greed, would not make you a better lover, husband, or a father".

A puzzled look was seen on Saki's face, as he repeated one word. "Father"?

Looking down onto her stomach, Saki's eyes narrowed, and Yoshi paled, as he saw the anger come all over Saki. Oroku Saki now knew that Tang Shen was with Yoshi's child.

Rushing forward, with an angry growling, it seemed that Saki, was consumed by rage entirely, and he striked Tang Shen across the face. Over and over again.

At the sounds of her cries and screams, Yoshi tried to lunge and intervene, but Nagi, near Yoshi, unsheathed his wakizashi and drew it near Yoshi's throat, as to indicate the message that was '_No sudden moves, Yoshi_'.

Saki continued to hit her, and Tang Shen was hurting from it all. This all made Yoshi more enraged, and more helpless, as he watched his beloved Tang Shen get hurt by his former friend.

Stopping, Oroku Saki, then turned to face Hamato Yoshi and shouted "Watch, as your beloved wrench, and her child die before your eyes, and you were helpless to save them. After all, you and Shen, made your decision, didn't you? So think back, as you watch". Laughing rather morbidly, Saki then continued on, and even Nagi moved his view to watch.

Soon, Yoshi felt that the Foot ninja holding his arms, were slackening their grip, and he took the opportunity to get free from their grips. Charging straight for Saki, he grabbed Saki's shinobi shōzoku, yanked him away from Tang Shen, and shoved him right into Nagi and the two Foot ninja. Immediately, all the other Foot ninja went into action, unsheathing their weapons.  
Reaching for Nagi's wakizashi, he later withdrew his hand after receiving an electric shock.

_It must have biometric security within the helt!_, thought Yoshi.

With this option not open to him, he instead decided to rely on his body as a weapon. Three foot ninja were charging for him, equipped with a Katana, a Yari, and a Chigiriki, and Yoshi knew that they all could do serious damage to him, if he was not careful. But his fear was elevated, once he saw that they were charging at him with recklessness and no thought into their attack, thus, when they came near, he ducked, avoiding a swipe of the katana at his head, and tripped up the first ninja. The second and the third, continuing on, as the second drew his Yari for a thrusting attack, whilst the third began spinning the Chigiriki in preparation for a strike.

_A bit impractical, considering that the room isn't the most spacious of rooms..._, Yoshi thought as he stood his ground.  
Letting the second one come closer, he grabbed the end of the Yari and swung it around, and there was nothing he could do about it, as the man lost his grip on the Yari, and to add insult to injury, Yoshi tripped him up, the man sliding across the floor and then colliding into the walls, knocking him out.

Holding the yari, Yoshi soon turned it around and readied for the ninja with the chigiriki to come. Watching the weight and chain spinning, Yoshi thrusted the rear end of the weapon towards the crutch of the ninja, and a cry of pain indicated a successful hit. With the ninja groaning in pain, on the floor, Yoshi soon found two more Foot ninja, with katanas, probably having watched their compatriots get knocked down by a man with no weapon. Upon Yoshi looking at them, in expectation of them wanting to fight, they instead dropped their katanas and ran away, through the fusuma.

_What a bunch of amateurs..._, thought Yoshi.

Looking at his wife, down on the floor, he rushed to her, and put his hands on her neck, and then her wrist, trying to feel for something that indicated that she was still alive. A groan came, and Tang Shen opened her eyes, to see Yoshi, who immediately wasted no time, helping her get up, as soon, Saki, Nagi and the two Foot ninja remaining, were getting up. Rushing for the stairs, and grabbing her hand, Yoshi and Shen went to the dojo, where there was a lot more room to maneuver than downstairs and his personal weapons were there.

Arriving in the dojo, Splinter, in his cage, was squeaking like mad and wildly moving from one place to the next.  
Then, Yoshi directed Tang Shen to hide in his Washitsu.

"But Yoshi, what about you"?  
"I'll be fine, Tang Shen. Now go!"

Rushing over to the Washitsu, she closed the door.

Looking around the room quickly, Yoshi then laid eyes on his own katana, and got it, after allowing the biometric security in the helt to read his handprint, which only took four seconds, and drew it, ready to take on Saki and whatever he threw at him.

And soon enough, he could hear their approach and stood ready.  
Oroku Saki, accompanied by Oroku Nagi, had now about 4 Foot ninja, at his side. _Must have called for reinforcements_, thought Yoshi.  
Saki, upon seeing Yoshi's katana, unsheathed his own, while Oroku Nagi unsheathed his wakizashi, and the rest of the Foot ninja, unsheathed katanas of their own.

Charging, Nagi and the Foot ninja with him, attacked Yoshi, trying to jab, slice, thrust and hit him with every lesson learnt, via Kenjutsu.  
But Yoshi, knew those lessons also, and was not a pushover with his katana, thus, the fight seemed to be in stalemate, despite him being outnumbered.

But the stalemate ended, when Yoshi got close enough to Nagi, that he headbutted him and Yoshi fell to the floor, hard. The Foot ninja then prepared for the final blow, but Nagi intervened.  
"Stop! Yoshi, is mine"!

But Saki wasn't happy with this, and he butted himself into Nagi, arguing that he must be the one to finish Yoshi. But the bickering continued, until Yoshi leapt up, quickly slashed his katana on the four Foot ninja, blood spilling from their chests, throats and necks, killing them and kicked Nagi into the walls, knocking him out. And soon enough, Saki and Yoshi drew their blades against one another.

"Oroku Saki! Your jealously, hate and greed, have corrupted our friendship, corrupted my teachings, and you, you have brought dishonor upon the noble Foot Clan! Now you will pay for it all, old friend"!

Laughing coldly, Saki only responded with "Oh, is that so, old friend"?

Confused, Yoshi was then taken completely by surprise, when Oroku Saki thew a happō, right into his face, the metsubushi blinding him.

As Yoshi tried to regain his vision, Saki laughed, as he prepared to strike the final blow on his former friend, raising his katana and preparing to strike the final fatal blow.

"NOOO"!

Saki felt a vase, smashing on his Kabuto, and swung his katana at the person doing it, with the single minded focus on making that person pay for intervening.

But, to Saki's shock, it was Tang Shen, who had decided to intervene, and thus, paid the ultimate price in doing so.

"No..."

Rushing over, and ignoring Saki, Yoshi tried to check all over her, looking for anything, something to indicate her survival, but this time, he found none. With a slash across the chest, and the blood around that slash, Yoshi's mind was now full of blood rage and hate, for Oroku Saki. All the plans for the future, with Tang Shen and their child, all gone, because of one man's jealously and greed.  
Screaming in rage, drawing his katana, Yoshi charged at Saki, who was too stunned and shocked to respond quickly, soon finding himself attempting to draw his katana in front of Yoshi, but was too slow.

But then, a yell came, as Yoshi's katana made contact too early, on Oroku Nagi, who had regained consciousness, saw his elder brother in danger, and jumped ahead to save him.  
Oroku Nagi's neck was slashed, blood spurting out, and both Yoshi and Saki knew that he was dead.  
Saki,upon seeing his younger brother dead by his old friend's hand, snapped and began a series of furious swings at Yoshi,who immediately backed up, trying to avoid Saki's swipes, right towards Splinter's cage.

With every more ferocious hit that Saki kept at, Yoshi was starting to lose his strength, and now, with his defense wide open, Saki kicked Yoshi right towards Splinter's cage.

The cage fell down onto the floor, smashing and soon, the rat leapt to Saki's face, seemingly with the intelligence to know that his master was in need of help. Biting and clawing, Saki grunted and cried out in pain, attempting to get the rat off his face.

And in the process, he knocked over a table containing lit candles that illuminated the entire room. Hitting the carpet of the dojo as well as the walls, immediately, flames arose.

Soon, Saki grabbed ahold of the rat's tail, throwing it to the floor, and then swiped at it with his katana, intending to kill it, but only sliced his right ear. The rat squealed and screeched, running out of Saki's sight.  
Saki, with an assortment of bit marks, scratches and clawing all over his face, refocused his attention on Yoshi, who was still on the ground, near his katana. Saki rushed over, just as Yoshi fumbled to grab the hilt of his katana, and performed the final blow to his neck, blood spurting out.

Unlike with Nagi, the slash was not fatal, and Saki watched, with some satisfaction as Yoshi bled to death.

Then he got onto his omni-tool, calling the rest of his ninja outside the house, calling them to get some medical attention for him. They acknowledged, but before Saki could cut the call, he heard a big giant snap over his head. Debris fell and striked him on the Kabuto, cracking it and managing to knock him unconscious.

And soon, more debris from the house's crumbling roof, aflame, landed right on top of him, setting alight his shinobi shōzoku.  
As the fire started spreading all over the house, Foot ninja, having heard the commotion, entered and searched for their master.

By the time they saw him, and got him free, Oroku Saki was severely burnt, his shinobi shōzoku in tatters, and sustained damage all over his body. They then carried him out of the burning house, just in time before the house collapsed.

No one had bothered to notice, that a single brown rat named Splinter, with a missing right ear, had gotten out of the house and fled the scene.

* * *

**Well, that's the second Chapter of Turtles Arise done, and a more direct view on the story of Hamato Yoshi and the origin story.**

Update 8/4/14: Fixed up on a bit of grammar.  
Anyways, don't forget to leave a review and see you next time.

**Edit (2/14/14): Fixed the chapter up, as well as grammar.**  
**Edit (2/15/14): Cleaned up some mistake that I did in regards to grammar.  
Edit (3/22/14): Fixed up a bit of grammar.**


	3. Prologue Part 3

**Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mass Effect do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners, namely Viacom and Bioware.**

* * *

_Factory District, Tayseri Ward, the Citadel, the Widow System, Serpent Nebula.  
December 11th, 2167_.

High within the traffic lanes of the Citadel, a lone skytruck cruised through with grace, despite looking to be a bit out of place amongst the smooth design of the X3M skycars that seemed to be everywhere on the traffic lanes.  
But despite the skytruck's square and boxy appearance, it seemed to be keeping pace with them, and soon, as the skytruck approached a junction, it banked left, and then descended, to go into the direction of the factory district.  
No one watching found it unusual. After all, skytrucks came and went from and to the factory district, to deliver goods, personnel and other stuff that could fit in the back.  
Only that this trip down to the Factory District, was not going to be the average, run of the mill cargo delivery trip.

_9 Minutes Later….._

Within an wide open space, big enough for a confidential deal to take place, 2 people, and 5 guards, armed with Elkoss Combine Avenger rifles, were awaiting the skytruck's arrival. But the waiting was seemingly grating on their nerves.  
"Arrrghhh! What's taking them so long? I don't like waiting around"!  
"Patience, man, those skytrucks arn't exactly very fast, if you haven't noticed. And we're very far away from TCRI".  
"Doesn't mean I like to wait around. C-Sec could be here waiting to pounce on us"!  
A laugh and then, "You haven't been on the Citadel long as I have, Francis. C-Sec isn't exactly as effective as people like to think. They don't even know who we truly are. Trust me, our boss has managed to get eyes and ears in C-Sec and if they sneeze, we'll know about it".

A sigh, and then, "Alright, Pat, if you say so. I'll take your word for it. But still, I'd like for them to just simply come in, deliver the goods, and then we get on our way".  
Pat smirked, patting Francis' shoulder and went "Don't worry. Once the goods arrive, we'll just follow the plan given to us. You do know the plan, don't you"?  
"Yes, basically we…."  
A shocked look went across Pat's face and he shot his hand out to muffle Francis' mouth, silencing him. "Not a word further. Just confirm it. You do remember it, yes or no? We can't afford being overheard"!  
A nod of the head later, and then, "But I thought you said that no one's here. And we swept the area for bugs, remember? If anyone put a listening device around, we'd find it, right"?  
"Well, I rather not take chances, because if something goes wrong, people will go looking for someone to blame. And plus, we cannot afford to be clumsy. Those Salarians are very crafty in their intelligence devices, of course. They can of course, avoid our security sweeps. The boss knows that and the importance of secrecy. Secrecy is our shield! So, we cannot take any chances! I certainly do not want my head to be on a platter if things go wrong, and certainly you won't want to, too. You do know who our boss is, right"?  
A gulp, and a nod of the head confirmed that, and Francis shut up after that, so it was nothing more than the tranquil sounds of skycars in the distance, distant machinery sounds at the District and the guards going over their weapons.

Then, the distinctive hum of a skytruck was heard, and both Pat and Francis looked up to see the skytruck from T.C.R.I. arrive, as it stopped in one place, and gracefully descended to land.

Hitting the ground, the driver's door opened, and soon, Pat asked him about the goods.

"In the back, ready".  
Pat smiled and went "Excellent. Shall we get to it, then"?  
A nod of the head, and the driver went to the back of the vehicle, where he soon faced it, reached for a biometric reader on the back door, which as soon as he swiped his thumb, it read his fingerprints, his genetic code, his respiratory system, his retina, and his brain neurons. Confirming he was the authenticated person, the door unlocked, and slid upwards.

The driver stood back, and swept his arm to present the goods. 9 sliver cylinder canisters, with a lime green substance with glowing green-yellow coloration in it. On the canisters, was the bold letters of **T.C.R.I.**, reading vertically down alongside the canister.  
But also, there was a glass bowl of a dust-form substance, which he knew it to be element zero, amongst the canisters, and more importantly, a glass jar containing 4 baby turtles.  
Even though looking very similar to one another, they all had different sizes, and had different shades of color. One was dark green, one was forest green, the biggest one, was Brownish green and the smallest one, was dark lime green.

Confirming, that the goods were in good order, Pat then beckoned Francis along and told him to get a trolley to carry the canisters, while Pat himself, took the glass bowl and the glass jar to carry.

As Francis went to get the trolley, Pat then got the bowl and the jar in his hands, and slung them under his arm pits.  
And soon, he waited, trapping his right foot on the floor constantly, as Francis ran over to the trolley, got and rushed over to the truck as quickly as he could. Getting the canisters, he laid them all out onto the trolley, all standing on their bases, so that they wouldn't roll about. And soon, with them secure, Francis moved out with the trolley, to divide the canisters into separate skycars.

But then, a skycar rushed in and landed. The guards readied their rifles, as four, very identical in every way, male humans, dressed in business suits, emerged from the skycar. Standing upright, they then spoke.

"Kraang, are those who are those who stole the mutagen the ones right in front of Kraang"?  
"I have no knowledge of that Kraang. I will inquire to Kraang".

As those who called themselves the Kraang continued on, the guards, looked at one another in puzzlement at the manner of how they spoke. Pat, however, spoke to Francis, "when I say run, run".  
Francis, shocked, opened his mouth, but Pat shouted to the guards to open fire.

Pointing their Avenger rifles at the Kraang, the guards opened fire.

However, all their fire did, was to put holes in the suits, and their faces, which soon revealed metal underneaf the skin, which, for all purposes, seemed to be a disguise. And they all seemed to be squirting out a blue gooey fluid that did not seem like blood of any kind. The rounds kept on going, even as the Kraang revealed assault rifles of their own, which were much more bulkier than the Avenger rifles that were firing on them. Aiming them, they powered up, revealing a pink glow where the barrel should be, and then they fired back.

"Run!"

As they started running for their own skycars, Pat noticed that the Kraang's rifles were firing _lasers_. _Lasers_! Despite what people thought, the Citadel races and others had not perfected laser weaponry for infantry weaponry, well, apart from the Geth, who were the only ones whose weaponry was close enough to be called lasers.  
The Kraang's laser shots, glowed pink. And as they hit one of the guards, he soon was knocked back by the multiple amount of shots hitting him in the chest, and he dropped dead to the floor. He didn't have shields, so it wasn't exactly surprising to anyone that it was that easy. A scream from behind him was shouted. _The driver, most likely_, thought Pat.  
And as they continued running, more and more shouting and screaming was heard.

However, Pat's thoughts were interrupted by another skycar, that hovered and landed right in front of one of the routes to their skycars. Stopping, Pat and Francis watched as four Kraang got out, produced their rifles and pointed it at them.

"The ones who are not Kraang and are running away must halt. Halt!"  
"Give back what is known as the mutagen back to Kraang".

Pat then closed his eyes, as he knew that he was not going to be leaving here alive, and soon, the scattering of feet from behind and the charging up of lasers proved his point. _All the guards must have been eliminated by now_, was all that was in Pat's thoughts by now. And then he opened his eyes and smirked, "If you want this mutagen, then come and get it".  
Throwing the glass jar containing the turtles, he produced a Kassa Fabrication Razer pistol from a hidden holster within his jacket, pointed it at the Kraang, and pulled the trigger multiple times, managing to score a few hits, before the Kraang unleashed their weapons onto him. His last thoughts were that he heard the glass jar smashing, and that the glass bowl containing the eezo, was flung from his left arm.  
He was dead before he even hit the floor.

Meanwhile, Francis, having watched this unfold before his eyes, was numbed by the fact that Pat, a man who he had barely knew, had only said his name was Pat (for he knew, it probably wasn't), and had sometimes been a total jerk towards him, was killed. And now, it seemed that he was the last one, it seemed, out of him, Pat, and the 5 guards, whom he presumed were dead.

"Kraang, check the one who had the glass jar and the glass bowl, and tell Kraang of the status of the one who had the glass jar and the glass bowl".

A lone Kraang, with rifle pointed at the body of Pat, soon approached and poked the rifle at the body for a few moments, before then confirming.  
_"_Kraang, the one with the glass jar and the glass bowl, is now eliminated"_.  
_Then all of the eight Kraang present, turned their heads towards him, pointed their rifles at him and advanced.

"The one with the mutagen, must stop running and surrender immediately to Kraang".

But soon, Francis saw the canister of that mysterious green-yellow substance, and reckoned that, that canister and the others like it, were the whole reason that Pat and those five guards died. That substance is the whole reason these Kraang were here.

He quickly grabbed the nearest canister, and readied himself, to throw it right at the Kraang, hoping that it'd do something, anything.

And it seemed that the Kraang knew what the substance did, and it was certainly not good, for they stopped and started slowly backing off.

Taking an aim for the center Kraang, Francis reared his arm back, and with all his might and strength, threw the canister at it.

But the canister had been thrown too high, and soon, the Kraang and Francis watched, as the canister went over the head of the Kraang, and went straight for the area, where the glass jar and the glass bowl had smashed.

* * *

**Wow, now that is the hardest chapter to date, that I have done so far.**

**Now, don't forget to leave a review, and see you next time.**

**Update 24/2/14: Changed the date due to a mistake that I realized.**

**Update 25/2/14: Urgh, I'm really terrible at doing dates. Changed back to January, then back to December, and that the update was listed as being in January? Oh dear...**  
**But anyways, this reasoning is all because I wanted the Turtles to be of a certain age by the beginning of 2183. And anyway, the reason for choosing December the 11th, is a tribute to the first episode of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 cartoon, if anyone's not catched that reference yet. And now I'll get back to work onto the next chapter.**

Update 8/4/14: Fixed up grammar and improved on some bits.


	4. Prologue Part 4

**Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mass Effect do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners, namely Viacom and Bioware.**

**Well, now, a new chapter and quite frankly, this was the hardest and mind-draining one to do so far yet.**

* * *

_The sewers of the Factory District, Tayseri Ward, the Citadel, the Widow System, Serpent Nebula_.  
_December 11th 2167_.

Splinter, sometimes, could not believe that he was on the Citadel.

After escaping from Hamato Yoshi's burning home, he wondered all over Japan, not really knowing where he was going, until he stumbled across a spaceport and somehow got onto a ship, which had travelled to here, the Citadel.  
Splinter had taken shelter within the sewers, which had now become his home.  
And what a quiet and lonely existence that he was now enduring...

And today, he was out scavenging for food. The limit of enduring his hunger had reached it's end and now he was searching for something, anything he could live on.  
But sometimes, he did just wonder why he should carry on, for his master was dead, the one person who had given a home, happiness, and most of all, a sense of belonging, in a family. Splinter, at times, felt that he should just let something happen to him and that'd be the end of his suffering.  
_No_.  
He pushed those thoughts out of his head, as he had done several times before. He remembered one vital lesson that he heard his Master Yoshi recite once to him, whilst he was giving Splinter something to eat, whilst back in Japan.

'_Even when times are toughest, my dear Splinter, you must never give into despair, for if you do, despair will win..._'_  
_  
A smash of glass interrupted his thoughts, and he rushed to the scene, where soon, he saw an overhead grill and then, four baby turtles dropping from it.  
Closing up on them, he noticed, that apart from their different sizes and their different skin shades, the smallest turtle had completely covered himself in a dust form substance, whilst the others had a bit there and there. And further more, he heard shouts from up above, on the surface, and as he moved under the grill, to get a closer look, a round cylinder object smashed right on top of the grill and immediately dropped down a lime green substance, that glowed greenish-yellow. Right on top of Splinter and the four turtles.

As soon as it hit them, Splinter immediately felt concern for the turtles, and set about getting them out of the way, and looked around for something to take the turtles with him. And then suddenly, he could hear gunfire up above, and a scream of someone being hit by that gunfire, then it all went quiet.  
Then spotting a coffee can, he rushed over, dragged it along and started picking up the turtles one by one, putting them into a coffee can. But before he put the smallest turtle in, Splinter noticed the turtle shaking off the dust substance as well as some of the glowing substance. And when that was done, Splinter picked him up by his shell and gently put him into the coffee can.

As Splinter put the last one into the coffee can, he noticed that he was still exposed to a lot of it all over him and tried flicking it off him. But he immediately refocused his attention onto the turtles, who were still in the coffee can. Grabbing the top, Splinter tried dragging it along, but then thought of a much quicker way of moving the can. Moving to the side of the can, he started pushing it, this effectively rolling it along wherever Splinter wanted it to go.

After several moments, rolling the can down, he managed to find his hiding spot, which wasn't really much, just a bunch of blankets and towels that Splinter had scavenged and made into a makeshift bed.

Resting the coffee can, he immediately set about getting the turtles out, but before he could do so, Splinter felt antagonizing pain, all over his body and muscles. And also, he was getting a headache, a very big one. Which he put his hands on his head, as he felt the pain go right all over him, but then all thoughts stopped, as he blacked out from the excessive pain he was under and collapsed on the floor.

_4 minutes later..._

A slight tapping on his nose was what Splinter first registered, as he was slowly waking from his unconsciousness. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

Focusing through the blur, he managed to see much more clearly at the blurry figures in front of him, and soon, gasped in surprise, as he laid eyes, on the turtles, who had doubled in size! Moving backwards, Splinter noticed that something was different about him, and he laid eyes on his hands, which had become much larger than before, and his snout was much longer and bigger. Even more disturbing to him, was that he noticed that his body had changed so much, that when he moved backwards, he walked upright on his "rear legs", something that he did not do before, for he was certain that rats did not walk like humans.

Then a conclusion came quickly to him, _That glowing substance has changed me and these turtles_!

It all made sense now. It had affected him and the turtles, all changing him into what Splinter could determine to be, human traits.

Looking at the turtles, who were all looking up at him, Splinter was surprised even further, when the forest green turtle opened his mouth and actually started to speak.  
His voice was fragmented, like a human infant attempting to speak for the first time, and it did require several tries from the turtle, sometimes being completely unintelligible, but Splinter could make out what he was saying.  
"Ssppp...llllllliiiiinnnnn...ta".

Splinter was shocked. They had actually spoken his name! But the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was probably the first thing that came in his head to say, rather than any knowledge of his name, for he did not wear a collar displaying a name tag on him. Everything nowadays was all done on electronics, omni-tools and implants, rather than those supposedly cumbersome collars.  
But the shock was still on Splinter's face, nonetheless, and suddenly he found himself speaking. "Yyyyyyy...essss...sssssssssss".  
And now he had the ability to speak!  
Closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths, he then opened his eyes and continued, now much more clearly, to his complete surprise. "My name, is Splinter".

_10 minutes later..._

Only 10 minutes had passed, and what a day for Splinter and his new turtle companions!

He took them alongside him as he went through the sewers to search for food, as he was exceedingly hungry, and judging from their crying out, they were too. And a few new things he learned about the turtles, as a result of the exposure to the glowing substance. They had three fingers on their hands, two toes on their feet, small nostrils that were not noticeable unless you got close and all of their eyes, were baby blue, well except for the dark green turtle, who had dark blue eyes.  
After having searched for any food and found nothing, they came approaching another grill, with a lot of noise coming from people up above, on the surface.

Splinter frowned. He couldn't risk him or the turtles with him, by revealing themselves to the "surface world".

But then, suddenly, something dropped down the grill.  
A cup of noodles, along with a pair of waribashi landed with a thud, and the contents spilled in front of them. Splinter could hear, up top, a conversation of someone who was probably dissatisfied with the choice of his food, and this had resulted in that person disposing of the noodles down the grill into the sewers.

"Oh come on! That's such a waste of good food, Grigori"!  
"Good food? Good food? Urgh, darn thing's disgusting, Kurt! Urgh, I need a coffee..."

Refocusing back on the noodles, he and the turtles quickly set about getting the noodles out of sight from the grill, so no one would see them. One might think why would anyone bother looking, but Splinter could not take chances. Rushing forward, he shoveled the noodles back into the cup, grabbed it and took it along, the Turtles fast behind him.

_Back at Splinter's hiding spot_

Dumping the noodles, the Turtles immediately went for the noodles, with the dark lime green one and the forest green one beginning to fight over one another, until Splinter put a stop to it, by separating the two apart, and giving them a share of the noodles, while the brownish green turtle settled for his own part of the share, quietly eating it, peacefully on his own.  
Splinter seemed content to watch them eat, allowing them to have it, and then he'd eat the leftovers.

However, the dark green turtle, had gotten out a bunch of noodles, and carried it in his arms. Facing Splinter, dark blue eyes made eye contact with Splinter's brown eyes, and soon, the dark green turtle split his load in half, dropping one side right next to him, and when that was done, he held out the rest, in his three fingered hands, in front of him, to Splinter.  
Splinter was shocked yet again, at the fact that this turtle, had given him a share. What such kindness, this turtle processed, despite being in what Splinter presumed to be, an infant stage. Smiling at the turtle, another shock came, as the turtle managed to smile back at him.  
Then Splinter took the noodles held out in front of him, and after picking up the waribashi, remembered how his master Yoshi had used chopsticks back in Japan.  
The lower stick resting on the thumb, between the pinky finger and the middle finger, for he only had three fingers and a thumb, and then the second stick held by the tips of the thumb, index finger and middle finger.  
Although, it was tricky, getting used to it, as he dropped the sticks several times, but eventually, he did it, and began to eat his share of the noodles. But it was a lot harder than it looked and like handling the waribashi, it took him a while to get the right manipulation of the noodles.  
Then, as he ate his noodles, Splinter noticed the Turtles having finished eating, and all four of them now close to him. But the dark green turtle, whilst eating his noodles, was also intensively watching Splinter. It was the same look that many students of his master had given to Yoshi, whilst under his training, carefully watching his every move. And this turtle had the same look, like a student under his sensei.

And Splinter looked at his situation now, with much brighter hope for the future, for he had been in despair about the state of his lonely life, until that mysterious glowing substance, had come and changed his and these turtles' lives. And he came to the realization, that with him and these turtles in the same predicament, Splinter was not lonely anymore. For his new companions...

No. He banished that thought quickly and reckoned that, with them as infants, he could raise them, as his own sons. Raise them as a family that Splinter had once had, but now could start anew.

Things now seemed brighter for Splinter and his new family.

* * *

**So, now, that's the prologue done! And we can get onto the story itself.**

**Anyways, don't forget to leave a review, and see you next time.**

Update 8/4/14: Fixed up grammar, and added a little clue about what happened to Francis, the guy who threw the canister in the previous chapter.


	5. Extinguishing the Flame

**Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mass Effect do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners, namely Viacom and Bioware.**

* * *

_The Keeper Tunnels under Tayseri Ward, the Citadel, the Widow System, Serpent Nebula_.  
_February 4th, 2183_.

The room was dark, with the only illumination being a single lit candle within the center of the room, being held by a 4'4" tall brown rat, with a missing part of his right ear, yellow-brown eyes, dark brown and maroon robes, and finally, a walking stick in his right hand, whilst his left hand carried the candle.

Walking and then sitting down into the Seiza position, Splinter then addressed his 4 sons, who he knew to be in the darkness.

"As I told you countless times before, true ninja become one with the shadows. Darkness gives the ninja the chance to strike their enemies hard, and fade away, whilst the light reveals their presence. In this task, you are to extinguish this candle in my hand. Extra points are for not revealing yourselves. And every time you fail an attempt, I will produce more candles for you to extinguish. 30 seconds from now, you shall start. **Hajime!**"

And with that, Splinter closed his eyes, relying on his heightened senses to tell him of what was going on. 30 seconds and surprisingly, no action already. Michelangelo must have managed to exercise some patience or he was preparing for something dramatic.

Splinter heard his youngest son, running across the wide space of the room, his heightened senses picking the increase in delays between Michelangelo's feet landing on the floor. And then, it all became silent, and Splinter did not think that Michelangelo would run, just to stop, because it wasn't his style. Splinter then, could _feel_ disturbances in the air, hinting that Michelangelo had leapt into the air, reminiscent of the high jumpers of the old Olympics, but Michelangelo wasn't jumping over a horizontal bar, for one thing. As soon as he jumped, Splinter could hear the hum of biotics in play, and a press of a button, with the unsheathing of a blade from one of Michelangelo's nunchakus. All this, told Splinter, that he was going to use biotics to biotically throw the kusarigama blade towards the candle. And judging from the rapid air disturbances, undoubtably caused by a blade slicing through the air, Michelangelo was going to exactly do just that.

But unfortunately for Michelangelo, the momentum of the biotic push on the kusarigama blade was too great, and as he was holding on the opposite end too tightly, he found himself being pulled along with it. Away from the candle and onto the opposite side of the room. Then came the loud clanking of the nunchaku and kusarigama hitting the floor, and Michelangelo yelling "owwww!"

Splinter grinned, and even without opening his eyes or facing him, addressed his youngest son "Too noisy, and too clumsily, Michelangelo". Putting down his walking stick, then getting out another candle from his pocket and lighting it, Splinter continued "Do it again, but this time, with two candles to extinguish. 50 seconds from now. **Hajime!**"

A groan and a protest ("Awww, come on!") later, Splinter held the two candles in each of his hands, awaiting the next try.

But Michelangelo, or Mikey, which had become his pet name amongst his brothers, was for the first time, thinking the situation through.

'_Come on, Mikey! Focus! You got to get those candles down! If you don't, Sensei, Leo, Donnie and Raph will never let you live it down!_'.

But then, as he nervously fumbled around his belt, containing his shuriken and happō, an empathy came to him, from when he was first taught the happō by Splinter, in which that, apart from being helpful in providing an escape by throwing it into the eyes of an attacker, it was very loud, and hence, it was also used as a distraction.  
Yes, he could throw it to Splinter's right hand side, distracting him, whilst he'd use Charge and knock the candles out of Splinter's hands, and then extinguish them.  
_Ah, yeah! Victory, here I come!_  
Grabbing a happo from his belt, Mikey carefully walked to what Donnie would refer as Splinter's 10 o clock, whatever that was, and chucked the happō towards Splinter's right hand side, and with the happō flying in mid air, Mikey started harnessing the eezo nodules required for a half powered charge, for Donnie had warned him that due to the biotic amps being second hand, and not perfected, despite Donnie's best efforts, the amps could only last for 5 minutes of sustained action, and had to cool down and recharge for an extensive amount of time. Thus, they would overload sometimes, which had happened in the past, due to Mikey wasting full powered biotic moves that drained the amps constantly, much to Donnie's frustration.  
With the required eezo nodules charged up, Mikey then ran into a sprint, and as soon as the happō hit the ground, exploding, Mikey leapt and triggered the nodules, feeling the familiar sensation of being catapulted. But due to the half powered nature of the move, that sensation was quickly gone, and he was now aware that if he made contact with the ground, he'd risked crashing onto the floor, as he had done multiple times, much to Mikey's displeasure.  
So Mikey started getting his legs moving into a run, in order to not crash onto the floor.

Splinter's attention had been caught by the happo, providing the distraction that Mikey needed, and when close enough, Mikey swiped the candles out of Splinter's hands, grabbing them.  
His feet hitting the floor, Mikey's balance suddenly started to go from side to side, effectively making him wobble, before he fell to the floor with a crash and slid across on his plastrons, giving him a bit of an uncomfortable slide as always. But as he came to a stop, he blew out the candles.

Splinter was slightly impressed by his youngest son's successful try but felt he could improve on it a bit more as he addressed Michelangelo "Hmmmmmmmm, well done Michelangelo. I did not anticipate you using the happō in your try, and that unpredictability is one aspect of ninjutsu that makes the ninja deadly to his enemies. But you could still better improve on how you got the candles, my son. You were still too noisy, but you managed to extinguish the candles. That is all, Michelangelo".

Getting up, brushing off his plastrons, Michelangelo twisted and turned his limbs around, and when passing Splinter to leave the room, handed back the candles into Splinter's waiting right hand, and exited the room.

Putting the second candle back into his pocket, Splinter relit the first one, held it in his right hand and called out to the next one.

"30 seconds from now, you shall start. **Hajime!**"

As Splinter closed his eyes, a second turtle, hiding behind a pillar up at the far end, peaked out, analyzing the room before him, and remembering the exact angles and calculations needed, took out three shuriken from his belt, and threw them in quick succession.  
Bouncing off the walls, having followed the angles accordingly, they all striked one target. The candle, which the wax stood no chance whatsoever, as the 2 shuriken sliced right through it, and the 3rd shuriken cutting right through the wick. This effectively, extinguished the candle.

Still without opening his eyes, Splinter addressed his third eldest son, knowing perfectly well who it was, due to that, only one of his sons could have performed such a feat.  
"Well done, Donatello. Your skillful use of the shuriken proves that one of the ninja's greatest weapons, is not the tools of the trade, or his body, but his mind. And your mind, my son, is gifted".  
After stuttering a thanks, Donatello, or Donnie (as he was affectionally called by his brothers), jumped down from the pillar gracefully and left the room.

Producing another candle from his pocket, Splinter lit it, and spoke to the next turtle.  
"30 seconds from now, you shall start. **Hajime!**"

As soon as the 30 seconds ended, the third turtle, immediately leapt out from the shadows, a sai in each hand, but Splinter quickly moved out of his way.  
Twirling his sais in each hand, and with the single minded focus of extinguishing the candle, he immediately charged right for it. But Splinter, got his walking stick off the floor, and used it to trip him up.

As the third turtle hit the floor and groaned, Splinter chuckled silently, and then addressed his second eldest son, knowing immediately who it was, "Too obvious of you, Raphael. Your anger makes you too predictable".  
Sighing, he dropped his walking stick, produced a candle in his left hand and used the right candle to light it.  
Looking up, Raphael, or yours truly, Raph, laid eyes on both candles, and getting up, he immediately growled "oh yeah"?  
Quickly turning around, he started to slash for the candles, only to find that Splinter was relentless in avoiding Raph's sais.  
And then, to add further insult to injury, Splinter swiped his right leg at Raphael's legs, soon causing him to crash down onto the floor. Hard.

While Raphael groaned at yet, another trashing, at the hands of his master, Splinter addressed him "A poor choice, Raphael".

But Raph, clearly not wasting anytime with words, glanced at both candles, and threw both sais at them. Before Splinter had a chance to move them away, the sais knocked them out of his hands and thrown them to the far side of the room. The sais, upon knocking the candles, hit the floor.  
Raph, grinning, immediately got up and went into a sprint, picking up his sais off the floor whilst on the way, intending on reaching them and blowing the candles out. But Splinter, had other ideas, as he immediately leapt with great strength, towards the candles.  
Upon seeing this, Raph's grin slowly vanished, knowing that his sensei's leaping was nothing to laugh about.  
"Oh no you don't!"

It had now become a race of sorts, and as Splinter landed near it, Raph jumped and slid across the floor on his scraped and battered plastrons, the momentum from his running propelling him towards the candles.  
And that momentum had enabled him to reach the candles, Raph getting his sais and swiped them at the candles, cutting them and extinguishing their flames.

Splinter addressed Raphael "Hmmmmmm, you did manage to extinguish the flames, but I suggest you try and improve on your performance, Raphael. And more so, I urge you to get that temper of yours under control, or it will control you. That is all, Raphael".

Raphael was now infuriated that he did not get a well done "But sensei..."  
"That, is all, Raphael!"  
After a big sigh, "Hai, Sensei".  
With Raphael leaving the room, Splinter was lucky that he was keeping that temper of his under check, at least, for the time being. His second eldest son, even though the strongest, alway was impulsive, rebellious and more sullen than the rest of his brothers. He always seemed to be latching onto the anger within him, and using it, without letting go and without regards of the consequences. Splinter worried sometimes, that Raphael's anger and hot headed temper, would be the death of him, and his brothers, especially Leonardo.

Speaking of which, he got another candle from his pocket, walked back to the center of the room, lit it and addressed his eldest son.

"30 seconds from now, you shall start, Leonardo. **Hajime!**"

Unknownst to Splinter, Leo was stealthily approaching his sensei from behind, careful to not make any noise that his sensei's heightened senses would pick up, having sneaked up into position ever since Raph had done his turn. And as soon as the 30 seconds were over, Leonardo, was now in the right position to make his move, for he was directly, right behind Splinter, who was expecting Leonardo to be climbing on the ceiling, or on the walls, then leaping out and using his ninjato to slice the candle. But not this time.

This time, he just simply pulled his face closer to the candle, and blew out the flame.  
Then he sprinted, as fast as he could, to one of the pillars, without making any noise and hid behind it.

With the flame out, Splinter (surprised at this maneuver by Leonardo), got his omni tool out, and pressed buttons, switching on the lighting in the room. Even though brightening the entire room, the lights did not reveal Leonardo's presence, and Splinter, was equally as impressed, that Leonardo had managed to hide himself from view.

Even though not knowing where he was, Splinter addressed his eldest son with a simple "Well done, Leonardo".

Walking out into Splinter's view, Leonardo faced his sensei and bowed to him in acknowledgement of his compliment.  
Splinter went, "Now, let us go rejoin the rest of your brothers, Leonardo".  
Still remaining silent, despite Leo's further apprehension at what Splinter would do next, he followed his sensei out of the room and into the Keeper tunnels, where a lone Keeper strolled by, to tend to something far away, not paying an anthropomorphic rat and four anthropomorphic turtles any mind at all, not that this was a big surprise. Keepers never paid anyone any mind, no matter how strange or complexing they were.

Donnie had his omni-tool out, displaying a screen, showing the view of a camera that he had installed in the room a long time ago. And both Raph and Mikey were clearly watching, over Donnie's shoulders.

And whatever conversation was going on between them, ended with Splinter and Leo's arrival.  
Raph had an angry scowl on his face, and it got deeper, when he laid eyes on Leo.  
Looking at the anger on his face, Splinter sternly addressed his second eldest "Whatever is the matter with you can wait, Raphael..."  
But this warning fell on deaf ears as a snarl came out of Raphael's mouth "Teacher's pet..."  
Splinter, despite all the years of dealing with Raphael's anger and temper, was still shocked by the venom behind Raphael's remark, and the bluntness of his second eldest son. But before he could get anymore words out, Leo, just as bluntly, had a retort of his own.  
"Raph, it's not my fault you can't hit even one candle with your sais, when clearly, I didn't even need my ninjato. And more so, I'm better at ninjutsu, than you, anyway".  
A chilling laugh later and "Oh yeah? You know something, big brother? One of these days, I'm going to settle once and for all, who is strongest. Me or you. One on one".  
"Really"?  
"Really".  
With tensions rising, Splinter needed to step in and put a stop to this. It was clearly getting out of control, so he shouted, with such authority to make all his sons flinch, "ENOUGH"!  
To show his authority, he striked his walking stick on Raphael's head and on Leonardo's head as well. Donatello and Michelangelo tried to suppress their sniggers, but failed, as Splinter glared at them, so much that they shrank away, nervously looking away from his glare.  
Sighing, Splinter turned his attention onto Leonardo and addressed him sternly "Leonardo, I expected much more self-control, and I expect you to exercise it in future, if you want to keep leading your brothers. You should know better than to keep rising to Raphael's baiting". Leo attempted to speak, but Splinter turned his attention onto Raph.  
"And Raphael, your petty insults are not making Leonardo's burden as the leader any better. The position of being a leader is not meant to be easy, there are of course, challenges in taking the role of a leader, but you are not helping in anyway. You are supposed to help your brother through his challenges, not cut yourself from him". Turning his attention onto Donatello and Michelangelo, he said simply "And that goes also, for you two".  
And addressing both Leo and Raph, Splinter continued "So resolve your dispute with each other, apologize to one another and you'd better mean it. I do not have to keep explaining myself to the both of you! Is that understood"?  
Both brothers responded with a quiet, "Hai Sensei".  
"IS THAT UNDERSTOOD"?  
"HAI SENSEI"!  
"Good. Now, my sons, let us return home and conclude the trials".

Donnie and Mikey, breathed a silent breath of relief at the conclusion of that argument. Even though the arguments between Leo and Raph, were at first, a brother rivalry, and a matter of both brothers being able to get under each other's skins very easily, it got even worse, when Leo was appointed the leader over Raph, and Raph would find ways to undermine his elder brother's leadership. Sometimes, he'd question every decision Leo does, be complaining about something that'd grant on Leo's nerves, purposely fail in training, so to make Leo look bad, or mostly, directly going off to do his own way, for which, Raph was more straightforward in solutions to problems.

And as the lone Keeper in the tunnel went to work, by the small terminal in the tunnel, unfazed and not distracted by the argument that had been going on, Splinter wasted no time, as he led the way back home, 4 teenage mutant ninja turtles right behind him.

* * *

**Thew...  
Man, definitely one of the hardest chapters so far. Being working on this chapter, all week. So sorry for the delay everyone.**

**Well, anyways, don't forget to leave a review and see you next time.**

**Update (14/3/14): Just doing a bit of cleaning up on grammar.**  
**Update (22/3/14): Fixed up a bit of grammar.  
Update (1/4/2014): Added a bit more detail to Splinter's height.**


	6. Concluding the Trials

**Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mass Effect does not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners, namely Viacom and Bioware.**

* * *

_"The Lair", the Sewers under Tayseri Ward, the Citadel, Widow System, Serpent Nebula_.  
_February 4th, 2183_.

Now, back at the lair, Splinter, and his four sons were within the area of space that they called the dojo, appropriately named so, due to the decoration and the wide open space allowing for small-scale training, sparring and katas.

Splinter, now looked on his four sons, kneeling on their knees, in front of him. Even though they all had the same colored bandana, a bright red, Splinter could pick out his sons judging from their behavior, the way they carried themselves, and of course, their unique physical traits and their standard weapons, that made them stand out from one another.  
And so he observed them in turn.

His eldest son, Leonardo, carried two ninjato, slung in two sheaths across his shell, most particularly the carapace, with the sheaths being held by straps that connected to his belt, which, like the rest of his brothers, contained, courtesy of Donatello's knowhow, 4 shuriken and 4 happō. Having dark green skin, giving him a darker shade of green than the rest of his brothers, he also had dark blue eyes, his wrist and feet wraps were khaki brown, and most of all, he had a brawny physique and was 5'2" tall.  
Leonardo was a very hard person to read, to those who didn't know him, and not because of that. Leonardo had a mixed sort of personality. On one side, was his "inner" teenage side, whilst another side, contained a serious, focused and disciplined side, along with patience, compassion, kindness and humility, traits of which were key to Splinter's decision to choose him as the one to lead his brothers. But at times, Splinter did find that Leonardo could be very hard on himself, something which Splinter felt, could hinder his leadership quantities and increase the burden on Leonardo's shoulders.

Turning to his second eldest son, Raphael was much more muscular than his brothers, his entire shell (the plastrons and carapace) had scrapes, cuts and chipping all over it, giving his shell a very worn, battered appearance. He also had cuts of various lengths on his chin and on his beak, near his nostrils. In addition to that, his wrist and feet wraps were colored dark brown, he had emerald green eyes, and last but not least, his skin was a forest green color. His two sais were slung on his belt. And like Leonardo, he was 5'2" tall.  
But whilst Leonardo was serious and focused, Raphael's personality was, well, _volatile_ was putting it a bit mildly. Unpredictable seemed to be the closest word to describe it.  
He was not very open to sharing his feelings towards his brothers, all because Raphael did not want to look 'soft' in front of them. But he was capable of sharing his inner thoughts and feelings to Splinter, but it would involve a lot of effort to do so, and Raphael would only do it, if he was absolutely certain that his brothers were not listening in.  
However, he was still capable of socializing with his brothers, most particularly, Michelangelo. Splinter knew that Raphael had a soft spot for his youngest brother, like all his brothers did, but he did his utmost to hide it from the others.

Now onto Donatello, the third eldest, the most tallest (standing at around 6'1" tall) and leanest of his sons. He had diastema, leaving him a gap between his front teeth and giving him the appearance of what his brothers called, "a geek", a term further helped by Donatello's intelligence, know-how and encyclopedic knowledge of the world around him or any certain subject.  
His skin was a brownish green, he had chocolate brown eyes, and his wrist and feet wraps were chestnut brown. And he had a sheath slung across his carapace, with the sheath held by straps that connected to the belt.  
And even though intelligent, Donatello also was very short tempered and high-strung, usually letting his over-thinking, frustration, and anger get in the way, but, he did possess a very kind, caring heart.  
And despite his love for 'tinkering', Donatello was still just as capable as learning ninjutsu, and being a ninja.

And finally, the youngest of his sons, and the shortest (standing at around 4'8" tall). Michelangelo, who possessed a "child-like" innocence, was the most light-hearted and the most playful of his brothers. Even though his maturity did vary from time to time, Michelangelo always brought his best game into the fight, and Splinter hope that it'd continue to be the case when it would be time to face their foes in a real fight.  
More athletic and the fastest of his brothers, Michelangelo was the only biotic, despite being hampered by second hand biotic amps that Donatello had modified for him, and Splinter's lack of knowledge regarding biotic abilities, Splinter did manage and did his best to help Michelangelo, with Donatello's help, to teach him how to control his biotic abilities.  
And hence, there was, at least, another positive to come out of this, for Michelangelo and Donatello, despite being completely polar opposites in personality, they had a very strong brotherly bond, despite being at loggerheads with each other sometimes. And whilst Donatello would be overthinking, Michelangelo was capable of 'going with the flow' and he was able to 'fight without thinking', which combined with agility, unpredictability and his biotic abilities, would make him a very unstoppable force in future.  
Michelangelo possessed, on his child-like face, freckles and baby blue eyes, whilst also, he had dark lime green skin, both his wrist and feet wraps were colored light brown and his nunchaku were held in two custom made holsters over his belt.

Now, it was time to conclude the trials. The trials, which had started the day after their 15th 'mutation day', would soon be finished, for his sons have passed the grueling tests and proven themselves worthy, of the title of ninja.  
And for that, it would be time to give them, all something for their hard work.

Splinter addressed them all, as they awaited patiently and looked upon him, "My students. My sons. Your trials are complete. All the hard work that you have accomplished, has been leading up to this moment, which you have proven yourselves worthy of the title of ninja.  
Michelangelo, put his hand up.  
"What is it, Michelangelo"?  
"So are you saying, that we're officially ninjas"?  
Silence, and then came, "Yes".  
Cheering and rejoice came from Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael, but Leonardo stayed silent, for he knew otherwise, if Splinter's smirk was any indication.  
And Splinter's next response proved him right.  
"And no".  
All the three celebrating, then groaned heavily, with Raphael stating "I hate it when he does that"!

Splinter chuckled and continued "My sons! Even though you have completed the trials, a true ninja never stops his training, if he is to remain sharp at all times. And remember this, my sons. No matter how good you are, no matter how old or wise you become, no one ever stops learning. So, you must never lapse.  
And now my sons, I am going to give you all something for your hard work, a mark to remind you of this day".

Moving to his room, Splinter could hear his sons' hushed conversation, starting with Michelangelo talking to Raphael.  
"Sweet! I bet we're going to get initials on belt buckles to put on our belts, like super heroes"!  
A snort later and, "You would".

Drowning out his sons' conversation, Splinter opened the fusuma, going in, and picked up a tray, containing four bandanas, all with four different colors.  
Taking the tray with him, out into the dojo, Splinter then spoke "The reward for your hard work, are new extensions of yourselves. New bandanas, all with a significant color to the way you are".

Turning to Leonardo, he addressed him and picked up the blue bandana.  
"Leonardo, the color of blue represents faithfulness and confidence, traits of which I found within you, my son, for you possess a staunch devotion to ninjutsu, loyalty, steadiness, reliability, and the confidence to become the true leader you are destined to become".

Raph, jealous at Splinter's attention on Leo, huffed, snorted and glared at Leo, only to shrink down as Splinter glared down on him with a look that could melt butter.  
And Raph swore that he could hear Mikey mutter, in whispers, "busted".  
But Raph didn't feel in the mood to retort back at Mikey.  
Leo, ignoring this exchange, discarded his red bandana, by unloosening the tails of the mask, and after letting it drop to the floor, got the blue bandana in his hands and put it on his face, soon doing it up.  
Looking around, he looked down to his right, and saw Mikey, next to him, with a wide, toothy grin on his face.  
"So, what do you think, Mikey"?  
"Whoa, Leo! That blue looks good on you. I think I can get used to that"!  
Patting Mikey's head affectionally, Leo smiled at this, and then faced forwards once again, as Splinter moved down to address Mikey and picked up an orange bandana.

"Michelangelo, the color of orange represents enthusiasm, creativity, joy, and the unconventional, four traits which make you the heart and soul of the group, as well as making you a very unpredictable foe to your enemies, that of which I am very certain".  
A wide grin was present on Michelangelo's face, as he eagerly undid the tails of his red bandana, chucked it away, and went "Awesome! Thank you, Master Splinter! Gimme Gimme Gimme"!  
Chuckling and smiling, Splinter however swiped the bandana out of the reach of Michelangelo's hands, and after raising an eyebrow questioningly, went "Ahem, Michelangelo"?

Michelangelo, a bit slow on the uptake, soon realized what Splinter wanted, and he politely asked "Uhmm, can I have my new bandana, please, Sensei"?  
"Good, and yes you can, Michelangelo".  
Holding out the bandana in front of him, Michelangelo took it, wrapped it around his face and did it up.

Moving onto Donatello, Splinter continued on, as he held a purple bandana, and held it out in front of him, saying "Donatello, the color of purple represents power, ambition, wisdom and creativity, traits of which fit well considering your, well, since fondness does not do it justice, your natural aptitude for tinkering tools and technology, as well as the knowledge of the world around you, in your mind, is unmatched".  
Donatello, after displaying his gap teeth with his smile, uttered a "thank you sensei" as he undid the tails of his mask, put it down on the floor, and put the purple bandana on him.

And finally, coming onto Raphael, Splinter got the final bandana, it being colored in black, and held it out in front of him, and addressed his second eldest son.  
"Raphael, the color of black represents power, fear, and strength, for which you, my son, possess within your fists and muscles great power and strength, and you have the capability of striking fear into the hearts of your enemies, by both being an unstoppable force, and also, by becoming one with the shadows".  
But while he did detect a smile on Raphael's face, his demeanor wasn't totally happy. Raphael's favourite color was red, ironic considering that red represented anger. But he, nonetheless, took the black bandana out of Splinter's hands. And then, to his sensei's total surprise, he only wrapped it around his right upper arm.

Splinter was not the only one surprised. Michelangelo and Donatello all had surprise right on their faces, and all Raphael could say in return, was a simple "What"?  
Donatello went "Er, Raph, you're supposed to wrap that bandana around your head".  
A snort later and then, "Over my dead body. I'm keeping the red. Red looks cool".

Splinter coughed, drawing his sons' attention and warned "My sons, even though you have achieved so much, I must caution you to not let your pride get to your heads. Earning the title of ninja, is not as easy as keeping it. Remember, my sons, to conduct your actions accordingly, as I have said, with the virtues of Bushidō. Do you understand, my sons"?  
All four closed their eyes, joined their hands together and went "Hai, Sensei".  
"Good. Now my sons, you may enjoy your well earned break. Celebrate, my sons. Make the most out of your well deserved celebration until dinner".  
"Hai Sensei".

And with that, Splinter watched, as his four sons, got up from their kneeling positions, cheered and expressed relief at being able to have their celebration.

And when they all have left the room, Splinter got into the Lotus flower position, and started his meditation.

* * *

**Well, that's that done. Sorry for the delay.**

**And if any of you are wondering why Mikey is the biotic turtle, it was well, because firstly, since the Turtles will be facing biotic enemies, they might need an edge against biotics, and thus one turtle with biotics would be their trump card against them. Secondly, out of all the four turtles, Mikey always seems to be the odd one out, never fulfilling an important role in the group, other than constant comic-relief, and just by being a dimwitted, scatterbrained goofball (He wasn't always a goofball, as the Mirage comics would prove). So I figured that Mikey's biotic abilities would be (in time), one key factor in maturing him as the series progresses. And thirdly, while I had chosen Mikey to be the biotic turtle, Raph was also a candidate, because I figured that biotic abilities on Raph would be also one reason why he is so moody and sullen, but by then, it was too late to change anything. So Mikey is the biotic turtle in this group.**

**Anyways, don't forget to leave a review, and see you next time.**

Update: (1/4/2014) Just added some new information regarding the height of the Turtles, to give you a better picture on how tall they are.


	7. Downtime

**Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mass Effect do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners, namely Viacom and Bioware.**

* * *

_"The Lair", the Sewers under Tayseri Ward, the Citadel, Widow System, Serpent Nebula. _  
_February 4th, 2183._

Once the four turtles exited the dojo, into the living room, which was the largest room in the lair, they all started doing things to pass to time, or in Mikey's case, celebrate.

Mikey immediately ran for the couch in the living room, jumped and landed on it, producing his omni-tool and using it to switch on the TV.  
Despite Mikey's thoughts going back to the constant corrections that Donnie would insist on saying, in that it was a vid-screen, not a TV, Mikey's face instantly brightened up when it got to the Galactoons Channel. And the show that was on?  
None other than his favourite, _The Spectres_.

Of course, he'd watch _Galactic Force_ and the _Galactic Elite_, but _The Spectres_ was the one he most enjoyed out of all of them. Featuring the adventures of Captain Conrad, the First Human Spectre, his crew and his 'girl', the _Côte d'Azur_, in his missions protecting Citadel Space.  
And speaking of crew, many people had thought that Captain Conrad, should have had an all human crew, but in the case of what Donnie called, 'Political correctness', the crew of the _Côte d'Azur_ was a mixture of human and every Citadel race.  
Mikey then remembered one time regarding Captain Conrad and his crew, that Raph said that "as long as I live, there'll never be a human Spectre, and if there was, he or she would never work with aliens"!

Anyways, onto the crew of the _Côte d'Azur_, there was still a handful of humans, including the Captain's 'right hand woman', Commander Jennifer Marks, who was a xenophobe (a term for those who hated aliens, according to Donnie) and hated the aliens alongside Conrad, sometimes letting that get in the way of missions, but was still loyal to the Captain, nonetheless. Then there was the Japanese science officer named Dr Minato, the Scottish security officer named Mackenzie (or just simply Mac), the Russian medical officer named Dr Volkov, and last but not least, a never ending supply of what Donnie called "redshirts", basically another word for cannon folder in fiction.  
The aliens on the _Côte d'Azur_ were the oddest bunch. The helmsman was an Elcor, of all things. The weapons officer was a Turian. The Navigation officer was a Salarian. The chief engineer was an Asari. And finally, the bartender (who served non-alcoholic drinks, for it was still a cartoon, nonetheless) was a Volus.  
And the ground team that accompanied Conrad, had an Asari martial arts specialist, a Salarian sniper, a Turian heavy weapons operator and a Drell tech expert. The two humans that accompanied the ground team, well apart from the redshirts who would get killed off pretty quick, were a pair of two human biotic siblings.

Mikey turned his attention back onto the show, and saw that Captain Conrad, was now at the helm of his ship, conferring with the Elcor helmsman, Telbyn.  
"_Helmsman, how soon will we be at Tarakon Five?_"  
"_With irritation, the ship will arrive when it gets there and not when you want it to, Captain. With annoyance, this helmsman has a name. The name is Telbyn. So use it please, Captain_".  
Anger on his face, in a very comical way, Captain Conrad always had that look whenever someone referred the _Côte d'Azur_ as 'just a ship' or referred to the ship as 'it', as he liked to think of the _Côte d'Azur_ as an actual thing and not as a machine.  
"_She has a name, helmsman! She's the _Côte d'Azur_, not 'the ship' or 'this ship', so remember that or you'll be out of the airlock faster than you can say sorry. No offense intended_".  
"_With severe annoyance, none taken. And with irritation, you have said that for the last 90 times, so your threats are meaningless and just words_".

Mikey smiled at the reference to the fact that this was the 90th episode, and that Captain Conrad usually, whenever arguing with Telbyn, made a threat to throw him out of the airlock 'faster than you can say sorry. No offense intended'.  
And of course, slight annoyance crept across Mikey's face as he remembered Donnie stated that the show was not allowed to use the names of real planets, due to the factor of 'Political correctness strikes again', and Donnie also said that due to any use of a real planet in a negative way could cause a diplomatic incident that could cost humanity it's chance of taking a seat at the Council, all planets except for human colonies, were given fictional names.  
Donnie said that it was idiotic to let political correctness get in the way, but Mikey couldn't really care less. _It's just a cartoon Donnie_!

Now with that thought out of his head, Mikey continued watching, as Captain Conrad made his rounds around the bridge.

* * *

Donnie didn't really feel in the mood to watch _The Spectres_ with Mikey, for he just could not help his nitpicking whenever some show was on and _The Spectres_ was one of those shows.

So he retreated to his area of solitude, the lair's laboratory, which also connected to Donnie's bedroom.

Closing the door behind him, Donnie took a look around the lab, and when his eyes lingered on several large vivarium containing his cockroaches and earthworms, as well as a large formicarium containing an ant colony, he smiled and went over to check in on them.  
Satisfied at the ants, the earthworms and the cockroaches all going about their business, Donnie then moved to his bedroom, and laid eyes on the 18 square feet cage containing his 7 pet guinea pigs. Moving over to the cage, he looked upon them, and could tell who was who.  
All named after 7 of the 'greatest scientific minds in human history' (in Donnie's opinion), which his brothers teased him about to no end when he named them, they were all shorthaired guinea pigs with a wide range of coloring.

The eldest one, named Isaac after Sir Isaac Newton, was a White-Crested, while the next one, named Einstein after Albert Einstein, was a Chocolate Roan.  
Hawking, named after Professor Stephen Hawking, was a Tortoiseshell cavy, colored in black, white and brown, whilst Petri, named after Julius Richard Petri, and Bunsen, named after Robert Bunsen, were all golden selfs (Bunsen was larger than Petri, so he could tell the difference between them two easily).  
Jenner, named after Edward Jenner, was a cream/white bi colored cavy.  
And finally, the youngest one, Mendeleev, named after Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, was a Satin red roan.

Donnie, soon decided to see if they would have a wonder around, so Donnie opened the cage's side door and waited to see if they would exit and have a wonder around his room and the lab.

* * *

But whilst Donnie was with his guinea pigs, Raph was now in his room, angry at that, the "teacher's pet" was receiving the phrase and attention from Master Splinter, and for all his hard work, Raph received no phrase.  
So he was throwing punches in his own room, at thin air. Quite literally.

And then, feeling another bout of anger wash all over him, Raph stopped, then cracked his knuckles, hoping to strike and break something to unleash his anger on, but when reminded of the fact that he was in his room, Raph groaned and flopped down onto his bed, hard and due to some tiredness creeping on him, tried to put the "fearless leader", Leo, out of his mind by going to sleep.  
But judging from the constant growling and groaning, it'd be a while before that would happen.

* * *

With his brothers doing their thing, Leo usually had a choice of things to do in his spare time. He'd be watching his favourite show, _Galactic Force_, and watching the adventures of the brave, wise, compassionate, and modest, Captain Prince leading Galactic Force against the evil forces of Maw, lead by the evil Maw-Lord. Or he'd be in the dojo, trying to refine his katas or sharpen his swordsmanship skills. Or he'd be in his room, reading his books.  
So since Splinter occupied the dojo and was meditating, Leo usually respected his sensei's privacy, so he refrained from using the dojo whenever Splinter was meditating, and thus, settled for going for the sanctuary of his room.

Opening the door to his room, he smiled at seeing that things were as he left them, including his bookshelf. Walking over to check it, there were a few actual paper books on the shelf, not as much as Leo would like, but given that actual paperbacks and hardcovers were now collectors items, nowadays, given that everything was holographic, there was significant difficulty in getting more. And even though Mikey and Donnie had said that he could still get books off via downloading them onto a datapad or his omni-tool, Leo felt it was not the same as feeling actual paper in his hands, and that there was quite a special feeling with having an actual paper book that no one else would probably understand.  
Leo's eyes lingered over the books, checking everything was still in place, and looked upon the author and title of the books. There was Alexandre Dumas' _The Three Musketeers_, Sun Tzu's _The Art of War_, Carl von Clausewitz's _On War_, Robert Green's _The 33 Strategies on War_ and _The 48 Laws of Power_, and last but not least, Miyamoto Musashi's _The Book of Five Rings_.  
And noticing that he was still reading _The Three Musketeers_, he took the book out of the bookshelf, went over to the chair he used to sit down and read his books, sat down, turned to the bookmarker, and read on from there.

* * *

**Well, that's that done. And this was one of the most difficult chapters so far, trying to pin down the Turtles I'm portraying here, without making them seem like carbon copies of ones we've seen in the cartoons and the films. But nonetheless, I still had quite a bit of fun doing this chapter.  
**  
**In regards to the names of Donnie's guinea pigs, I reckoned that since Donnie's a bit of a science genius, he'd give them names after some of the greatest scientific minds of humanity, either by what they have discovered in the scientific field, or by what equipment they've made that has helped in science.  
And with Leonardo being a book reader, I choose books that seemed be what he'd read, all according to his personality, and during the 1987 cartoon, he was established as being a book reader, and that was one Leonardo aspect I wanted to portray along with being a serious, focused student and leader. And that's not the only thing he does in his spare time!**

**Oh and, 'The Spectres' contains parallels to Commander Shepard. And the traits of Captain Prince, who is the star of the show 'Galactic Force', a parody of G.I. Joe and Transformers, has the combination of traits of Duke and Optimus Prime. And the Galactic Elite, is a superhero show in the Mass Effect universe, based of the Justice League, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. And so, for a bit of fun, see if you can spot some references and parallels in those three shows.**

**Anyways, don't forget to leave a review and see you next time!**


	8. Dinner and a Decision

**Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mass Effect do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners, namely Viacom and Bioware.**

* * *

_"The Lair", the Sewers under Tayseri Ward, the Citadel, Widow System, Serpent Nebula_.  
_February 4th, 2183_.

Leonardo, having read a significant part of _The Three Musketeers_, set his bookmarker onto the page that he had gotten up to so far. And he put the book back on his bookshelf, and then went out of his room, to watch _Galactic Force_, for the show was going to be on soon.

After exiting his room, and closing his bedroom door behind him, Leo walked over to the couch, where Mikey, sitting down, with his elbows on his knees, hands on his chin, and with a wide grin, as _The Spectres_, was in the midst of it's ending credits.

Coming over to sit down next to Mikey, Leo opened the conversation.

"So enjoyed the show so far, Mikey"?  
Mikey, having known that Leo had sat down next to him, only turned his head to address his elder brother, replying "Oh, hey Leo. Yeah, you missed a great episode. Captain Conrad faced down the evil forces of Slaver-Lord. Again. On Tarakon Five. You see, Slaver-Lord was kidnapping the inhabitants of a village and forcing them to be slaves, as so to dig up element zero, but Captain Conrad was all 'Slaver-Lord, I will stop you once and for all', and Slaver-Lord was all like 'You'll never stop me! I'm invincible'. So they had a bit of a battle between one another, whilst Lieutenant Marks lead the team to free the slaves, and she almost got herself killed because she ignored a warning from one of the team. But she still lived, and then, Captain Conrad beat Slaver-Lord, and his four eyes were all on fire, as he said the whole 'this isn't over, Captain Conrad. I will have my revenge'! And he escaped, and thus, Captain Conrad and his crew save the day once again"!  
Leo, usually having learnt not to interrupt Mikey whenever stating down what happened, then asked "And that's it"?  
"Oh no. That Star-King made a appearance once again".  
"Did he"?  
"Oh yeah. He was sitting on a golden throne and he was all doing the whole 'muahahahahaha' stuff and rubbing his fingers together, as he makes another proclamation to rule the galaxy. Same old, same old".  
Leo was about to ask if Mikey ever got bored, but didn't, given that Mikey had a 'fanboy' enthusiasm when describing what happened on _The Spectres_. And so Leo stayed silent.

Then Mikey broke the silence as he went "So Leo, you here for _Galactic Force_"?  
Leo nodded, chuckling and went "Heck yes. Here to watch Captain Prince kick ass and take names".  
A wide grin from Mikey, with a fist pump and then, "Oh yeah!

Leo smiled back, as the continuity announcer then spoke, and both Mikey and Leo awaited for the show to start.

* * *

Donnie meanwhile, had the automatic feeder for the cage on a table, filling up containers, and also took the time to ensure that the automatic feeder was in working order, a habit that he did most of the time. After this, he started putting the automatic feeder back together, and then, once assembled, he put it back into the cage. And soon, he then began the possess of cleaning out the cage, which he had to do regularly. Luckily the guinea pigs were all wondering around his room, so he could change the hay, give the cage a bit of a clean and then his guinea pigs would have a clean home.  
Taking out the hay currently within the cage, he then disposed of the hay into a waste disposal bag, and then went over to a cupboard, where another packet of hay was. Taking that packet out, then putting it down on his table, he then got a cleaning spray, a fibrecloth wipe and started cleaning the cage, by spraying the inside, and then scrubbing with the wipe. Donnie continued on doing this, until he could tell that the cage was clean and smelt very clean. And then, going over to put the cleaning stuff on his table, he got the bag of hay, opened it, and put in the hay.  
And the hay set down, Donnie felt one of his guinea pigs go alongside his left foot. Looking down, he saw that it was Einstein, and Donnie gently took his hands down to stroke his fur. Then, he decided to take a look at what the rest of his guinea pigs were up to, and saw that they were now going into the laboratory, so Donnie, having knelt down near the cage, stood up and went over to have a look at his guinea pigs wondering about in the lab.

* * *

Leo and Mikey, meanwhile were all focused on what has happening on the vid screen.

Captain Prince was facing down Maw-Lord at his secret headquarters.  
"_Maw-Lord, your galactic domination stops right now!_"  
"_Oh really, Captain? I think it's all just started. For I have the ultimate ray of doom in my clutches and I will use it to conquer every planet that stands in my path!_"  
Crackling into a very evil laugh, as all cartoon villains did, Maw-Lord continued on.  
"_And you, Captain Prince, or your team of humans and aliens, will not be able to stop me! And of course, speaking of your team, they won't be joining you, for they're in a room where all the oxygen is being pumped out as we speak_".  
Captain Prince however, smiled, when his team of humans, Asari, Salarians and Turians, met up with him, explaining that even though that they were trapped, as Maw-Lord had said, they were able to get out.  
And Captain Prince then prepared to go and start the whole rally cry of Galactic Force, as he and his team went to battle Maw-Lord.  
"_Ladies, and Gentlemen, let's go and put a stop to Maw-Lord. Go Galactic Force!_".  
As every one of Captain Prince's team leapt into battle, yelling the battle cry of Galactic Force, 'Go Galactic Force', Mikey chanted the same words as the rest of the team.  
"Go Galactic Force"!

But then, the vid screen switched off, and Mikey and Leo reacted, with a 'Hey'!  
"Michelangelo, is it not time for you to put the dinner on"?  
"YIKES!"  
Jumping at the sound of his sensei, close behind him, he had jumped off the couch and fell onto the floor. Picking himself up, he turned to face Master Splinter, gave a cheesy grin as well as an embarrassed look on his face and went "Man, sensei, don't make me jump like that. You may be the master of ninjutsu, but man, give a turtle some warning, would ya"?  
Splinter chuckled, but then recomposed himself and went "The point remains, Michelangelo, that you still need to put on your dinner and your brothers' dinner. And you certainly cannot do that while watching vids, and shouting 'Go Galactic Force'".  
Sighing, and with resignation, walking over to the kitchen, Mikey replied, "Hai Sensei".

Splinter then looked at his eldest son, who was on the couch, and went "Leonardo, would you like to join me in some meditation, while we wait for Michelangelo for finish dinner"?  
"Hai, Sensei".  
Standing up, Leonardo then followed his sensei as he went back into the dojo and already, there were two mats, to sit on. Splinter took the one on the right, whilst Leo took the one on the left. Sitting into the Lotus position, Leo looked to his left, seeing that his sensei was already beginning his meditation routine.  
And Leo, started to remember the lessons in meditation that his sensei had taught him, and began to go into the steps, one by one, calming and relaxing his mind, before he closed his eyes.

* * *

**Two and a half quarter hours later...**

When Mikey announced that dinner was finished, he could be heard throughout the lair, so the excuse of not hearing him, wasn't a very good one if you didn't want to come to dinner.  
And entering the kitchen, came Leo, Donnie and Raph, as well as Master Splinter.

Mikey had made yet another addition of soup, which apart from noodles, was the only other food that they got down here. Sitting down in their table positions, Leo, even though he didn't exactly like the soup, for he preferred the noodles, he just put his spoon in, got a spoonful of soup and slipped it, not complaining, and adopting a stoic look.  
His brothers, were a totally different story.  
Raph had an angry scowl on his face, and grimace as he ate his soup. _I'm fed up of eating this rubbish soup. I just wish we could try something else other than soup and noodles!_, were what was going through Raph's thoughts.  
Donnie, as he ate his portion of the soup, had a very displeased look.  
Mikey, meanwhile, had a very eager look on his face, but of course, he put on that face, to hide his distaste at the fact that it was the same sort of soup he tried. Even though he cooked it, he still did not like the fact that soup and noodles were the only thing on their menu down here.  
And as usual, he tried to offer some more to his elder brothers, but the response was always "No thanks" or something on those lines.

And after they finished eating, and now washing up, Donnie then tried to get the subject of his brothers' distaste for soup off their minds, by asking Splinter a question which they had asked periodically from time to time.  
"Sensei, since we're now 15, and that we've completed the trials, do you think that we're ready to go up to 'the surface'"?  
'The surface' was an exciting thought to the four brothers, considering that they had never seen what would await them on 'the surface'. Master Splinter, during their youth, had forbidden them to venture anywhere near there, and stated that 'the surface world' is a dangerous place, and would never understand them.  
And as predicted, the thoughts of their distaste for soup had dropped out of Leo, Mikey and Raph's minds, as they awaited the answer from their sensei. Of course, in the past, he had stated and sternly said 'No', but there was always the first time that he'd say yes.  
And today was that first time.

"Yes".

Cheering came from Donnie, Mikey and Raph, but not from Leo, who even though wanted to go up to 'the surface' as much as his brothers, was a bit more reserved and knew that Master Splinter wasn't finished.

"And no".

Cheering turned to groaning. And Splinter started saying "My sons. I have spoken about this, time and time again. 'The surface world' is a totally foreign place to all of you. It's inhabitants will not understand you four, or me, for we are so different in so many ways. They fear the unknown, and we are very unknown to them".  
Donnie, however, continued to push his luck into allowing Splinter to let them go. "But Sensei, we've completed the trials. We are ready for whatever 'the surface world' brings us".  
An eyebrow rose, and Splinter stated "Are you really, Donatello? Are you really, my sons? Despite you having completed the trials, there is still so much for you to learn. And you are still teenagers, still young".  
Leo then said, "Sensei, with all due respect, I know you're trying to protect us, but you can't keep us contained within the lair forever. There is a time when you will have to let us go".  
Raph then said "Yeah, come on, sensei. How bad can it be"?  
And then Mikey added his two cents, "Yeah, please sensei! Please please please, pretty please"!

Splinter then started thinking heavily, knowing that this decision would risk exposure to the outside world. But his eldest son was right. There was going to be a time when he'd have to let them go. The question was, was this going to be that time?

So he closed his eyes, and he could hear Mikey whispering in a dramatic voice "He's doing the thinking look..."

And then, 2 minutes later, he came to a decision, hoping that his sons would not make him regret this decision.  
Opening his eyes, to see his sons looking at him expectingly, "Very well. You may go to the surface, tomorrow night".

Even though they couldn't go to the surface now, they were overjoyed, even Leo, for a venture to the surface was surely worth one day down in the lair.  
Mikey was whooping and fist bumping, along with Raph and Donnie, whilst Leo hung back, even though excited, was a bit apprehensive.  
Looking at his sensei, Leo then stated "Sensei, do not worry. I will ensure nothing happens to my brothers when up on the surface".  
Walking over to his eldest son, Splinter then replied back, with a genuine smile "Good to know, my son. And I know you'll take care of your brothers. Just ensure that you and your brothers do not do any foolish to reveal yourselves to the surface world".  
A bow and, "Hai, Sensei".

As Leo, walked off, Master Splinter sighed, as he hoped that his sons would not mess up their venture, for if they did, it'll be another reason for him to keep them down in the lair. But of course, he'd just have to place his faith in his sons.

* * *

**Well, another hard chapter done.  
And sorry if this seems to be a bit rushed. Of course, I needed to speed things up a bit to get the plot moving, otherwise it'll be a very slow story, but I couldn't just put in no details or what the characters are thinking. That's the thing with stories, it's about finding the balance between showing character development, as well as showing what makes them tick and what they do in their spare time, and between getting things moving, and you can't go too fast, or it'll just be a very bland story with no detail. It'd be just like a plain sandwich with no ingredients in it.  
And next chapter, we'll see our first look at April, and a possible cameo from Casey Jones (don't worry. He'll have a much bigger role in another story later). But of course, I give no promises.**

**So anyways, don't forget to leave a review and see you next time.**

Update 8/4/14: Worked around some bits of this chapter, to fix up some parts which I was not satisfied with.


	9. School Dismissed

**Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mass Effect do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners, namely Viacom and Bioware.**

* * *

_Roolteyn Senior School, Tayseri Ward, the Citadel, Widow System, Serpent Nebula_.  
_February 5th 2183_.

Named for the Commander of the Salarian expedition that made first contact with the Asari, in 520 BCE, the Roolteyn Senior School was one of the many education centers on the Citadel. Every ward, had a Junior School, a Senior School, a few colleges, and a University, all of which had names that were either key members of the Asari expeditionary team that first found the Citadel, significant Asari or Salarians who were part of first contact between each other, or establishing the Citadel Council, or last but not least, the very first councilors of the Citadel Council. But of course, the Universities were all named after the Wards that they were located in.

But for April O'Neil, one of the many human students of Roolteyn Senior, such thoughts were not her mind as she exited the classroom. The day was over, and all students were now making their way or preparing to go home.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, April made her way to the comm terminals, which would now be activated, in order to contact her dad, to see if work was going to be taking much of his day, going through the mass of students and teachers, either of which were Human, Asari, Salarian, Turian, Elcor, Drell, Volus, and even Hanar.  
Seeing a free terminal, she rushed her pace over to get over there before another student beat her too it. And she did manage to narrowly get to the terminal, before a Turian did.

"Hey, human, I was here first"!  
April turned around to face the Turian, who had grey, brown and orange facial markings on him, and said "Well, I'm sorry, but I got here first before you. So, you're just going to have to wait your turn. And anyway, I don't plan on being long".  
His mandibles started flaring, as the Turian, whose name April didn't know, showed irritation. And just as he was about to say something else, another Turian, this one with green, with white facial markings, put a hand on the shoulder of, presumably his friend or brother, and stated "come on, Sellick. Let's find another terminal". Then, Sellick just growled and walked away, mumbling to himself, "Humans just love to be butting everywhere they can damn well please..."

Turning her attention back to the terminal, April switched on the terminal, and after issuing her thumbprint, the terminal's VI began speaking.  
"_April O'Neil. Verified. Do you wish to call someone? If so, please state the name and location, either their home address, or their workplace_".  
"O'Neil, Kirby. Stocktronics".  
"_Standby, April O'Neil_".  
A few moments, and April was willing for the terminal to hurry up to see if her dad was going to respond, for she did not want to hold up the students behind her, who were forming a queue.  
And soon the VI responded.  
"_Connection with Kirby O'Neil established_".

And soon, her father's face appeared on the screen, and April smiled at seeing her father.  
"Hey, April. Did you just finish school"?  
"Yes, dad. I was just calling to see how things were at work, and to see if you're going to be home late".  
A displeased look was on her father's face, as he said "Well, yes, that much is true. I'm going to be home quite late. Dr Stockman's riding us hard over here with the new project coming up, and I'm sorry, April..."  
"No, it's okay. I understand, dad. I really do, and I don't blame you. And in any case, I'm going over to Irma's to do some homework assignments. Is that alright by you"?  
And far from another displeased look, which April sort of expected, her father looked relieved, of all things, and said "Yes, you can, April. Just be careful".  
Sighing, she went "I know. Some of the Citadel's residents are still not welcoming towards humans, I know".  
Then deciding to finish the conversation, for more students were queuing up behind her, April then said "Hey, look dad, I better be getting off. I'll see you later, okay"?  
And furthermore, her father seemed to be a bit distracted as he slowly caught up to what April was saying, "What? Oh, yes, of course. I'll see you later, April".  
"See you dad".  
April disconnected, then came "_Communication Disconnected_", and April went off, to find Irma.

* * *

It took a bit of a while but, April managed to find Irma, at the school's lobby. As April approached, Irma spotted her close friend, smiled and gave a friendly wave of her hand.

"You spoke with your dad, April"?  
"Yeah. He says I can go to your place to do this homework assignment. Are your parents going to be alright with that, Irma"?  
"Oh yes, they won't mind! Not a problem at all! So anyway, let's get over there and get this homework done"  
"You said it".

And then suddenly, as they prepared to go through the doors, shouting was heard behind them, and they turned around, to see a 17 year old boy, dressed in dark clothing, being chased by those who April recognized as part of the school's American Football team, lead by Edward Cooper, or "Eddie" to his mates. The school's star American football player, he fitted the role of school jock to some aspects. And soon, April and Irma let the boy, as well as Eddie and his mates past, as they rushed through the lobby's doors, out onto the Citadel.

Irma then sighed, as she commented "Well, Casey Jones probably got on the wrong side of Eddie Cooper once again".  
Frowning at the name of Casey Jones, who she never heard of, April asked Irma who Casey Jones was, and she replied "Oh, Casey's on the Ice Hockey team. Plays as a defender, and bit of a wild player too. Anyways, Eddie's got a beef against Casey, and likes to torment him no matter where".  
Concern on her face, Irma picked it up, and said "Whatever you're thinking of, April, I wouldn't get into all that trouble, just for Casey Jones. It's not worth it".  
"But..."  
Dragging April by the arm, Irma then angrily went "April, are you going to do this homework assignment, or are you going to waste your time on some pigheaded, arrogant ice hockey player"?  
Frowning, April asked her friend "Why, what makes you think that he is, an pigheaded, arrogant, ice hockey player? Well of course he's an ice hockey player like you said, but what makes you think he's all those other things"?  
"Because Jones likes to show off a lot to the ladies during ice hockey matches, and plus, he's so full of himself, that's all I can say".  
Sighing, April dejectedly said "If you say so, Irma".  
Smiling, Irma replied "I do say so. Now c'mon"!

As April O'Neil walked with her best friend, little did she realize that the events of today, would change her life forever.

* * *

**Well, there you have it. An introduction to April, as well as an appearance from Kirby O'Neil (he'll play an important role later) and Irma, and a Casey Jones cameo.  
**  
**Next time, the Turtles arise up on the surface! So don't forget to leave a review and see you next time!**

Update (19/4/14): Just spiced up the chapter a bit, because it still felt a bit blank to me.


End file.
